$30 million Connections to Care initiative is big step in overhaul of New York City's mental health system

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is announcing a big step in delivering on his campaign promise to overhaul the city's mental health system.

The deal is the largest public/private partnership from a mayoral initiative first started under the Guliani administration, and it is also a cause that is very personal one for First Lady Chirlane McCray, who has been quite open about the personal struggles of daughter Chiara.

"Chiara is in recovery now from depression, anxiety and addiction," McCray said.

And it's a struggle McCray says she's heard over and over again these past seven months, and so she says the new $30 million initiative called Connections to Care is long overdue community-based mental health care for those who can't find it or afford it.

"If we were talking about the flu or heart disease, we would declare it an epidemic," McCray said.

Some would also consider it a matter of public safety in the city for years, as it was back in 1999 that Andrew Goldstein, who suffered from untreated schizophrenia, randomly pushed 32-year-old Kendra Webdale to her death in front an oncoming N train.

Kendra's sister Kim Emerson is praising the new funding plan but hoping the de Blasio administration will address the full spectrum of mental illness.

"So you have the people with bipolar, those are the people I would also like to see helped," she said.

The mayor is planning to unveil what he calls a broader mental health roadmap for the city in the fall. But in the meantime, McCray quite candidly says this quest helped her understand her own parents' struggle with depression as well.

"I just thought they were sad," she said. "They were very sad. You'd go a week, and maybe say good morning, good night."